Huron River Watershed Council

 Ann Arbor     Michigan

http://www.hrwc.org     << visit website

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Huron River Watershed Council Charity Profile

The Huron River Watershed Council is the first and oldest river protection group in Michigan. Founded in 1965 as a public, non-profit organization, the Council is a coalition of Huron Valley residents, businesses and local governments established under Michigan's Local River Management Act (253 P.A. 1964). Since its formation, the Council has grown to be a respected voice for protection of the Huron River and its tributary streams, lakes wetlands and groundwater.

The Huron River Watershed Council has a history and reputation of working creatively and cooperatively to tackle a wide variety of issues facing the basin. The Council has worked closely with local governments throughout the Huron River Basin to enact local wetland protection ordinances, stormwater management plans, and groundwater protection ordinances. The Council was instrumental in the passage of several of Michigan's wetland and water quality protection statutes, and in passage of State Natural River designation for the Huron. Today, 40 communities, representing over 500,000 residents, support technical assistance, hands-on education and advocacy programs through voluntary HRWC membership.

The mission of the Council is to inspire attitudes, behaviors, and economies that protect, rehabilitate, and sustain the Huron River system.

Huron River Watershed Council Volunteer Information

HRWC currently has several projects requiring volunteer help. Please consider lending a hand with one or more of them. Contact info for each project is indicated within the Volunteer Opportunity description.
new April '08Volunteers or Intern Needed for Huron River Data Collection.
The Middle Huron Partnership Initiative coordinated by HRWC is seeking volunteers and an intern to collect data at local streams this spring and summer. 2008 marks the 7th year that HRWC staff and volunteers have collected water quality data at 10 sites from Dexter to Ypsilanti, and the first year we will be adding sites in Livingston County.

No prior experience is needed, as training is provided, but it is appreciated. Volunteers will work in pairs to measure stream flow, collect water samples, and monitor other water quality parameters. You can volunteer for one or all monitoring activities. The information collected is analyzed and presented to elected officials and decision makers from local units of government in Washtenaw, Wayne and Livingston counties, MDEQ, universities and other organizations that are members of the Middle Huron Partnership Initiative. The data collected is critical to evaluating progress from projects designed to reduce eutrophic conditions in that section of the watershed.

updated Mar '08Explore the Huron’s Natural Areas AND Help HRWC. HRWC is seeking interested people to volunteer with our Bioreserve Project, which aims to preserve high quality natural areas in the Huron Watershed.

As part of the Bioreserve Project, HRWC created the Bioreserve Map pdf file = 2.4mb by drawing the boundaries of forests, wetlands, and grasslands on a computer, using aerial photos as a guide. Then we used a computer model to rank each natural area based on fifteen different measurements of its ecological value. These include the size of the area, whether wetlands, streams, or lakes are on the site, the diversity of the landscape on the site, the potential for the site to be a groundwater recharge area, the potential for the site to be connected to other natural areas, and how much native vegetation the site potentially still harbors.

Given that the map has delineated over 1700 natural areas in our watershed, it would be impossible to perform full-scale ecological assessments of every site. Using our newly-developed rapid assessment process, we hope to select out those sites with the greatest potential to be high quality natural areas most deserving of protection. The rapid assessment consists of walking the site and answering questions about the kinds of trees and other plants on the site, presence of damage from human activities, etc.

Volunteers are needed to participate in our roadside survey of the 1700 natural areas in the watershed. This will involve driving to the natural areas and completing a one-page form that asks very general questions about the site. The purpose of the survey is to screen out sites that program staff can easily tell are not worth taking the time to perform the field assessment on. This survey will take place throughout this coming winter.
This spring, volunteers are needed to perform the field assessments on the natural areas the roadside survey has determined have potential for being of high ecological quality.